I had to jump ahead a little and catch up with my own reading!
The next few chapters detailed the members of the court coming and getting all set up for the trial. Even these characters that aren’t important for the duration of the novel are delightful:

“Next came the gloomy member of the Court, now more gloomy than ever, having met his brother-in-law, who informed him that he had just called in to see his sister (the member’s wife), and that she had told him there would be no dinner there that day.
‘So that evidently we shall have to call in at a cookshop,’ the brother-in-law added, laughing.
‘It is not a laughing matter,’ said the gloomy member, and became gloomier still.”

p. 24

from my own camera

And we continue! That girl, Maslova shows up again (it’s her trial after all, along with two other dummies I can’t stand). This is gonna shake everything up. All the members of the Court stare at her because she’s so gorgeous, so I don’t know how this trial is gonna end up. If she’s acquitted, then I have no idea how we’ll spend the remainder of the book.

So this is how it goes: it’s a little weakling called Simon Kartinkin, an old busybody named Bochkova, and our darling Maslova on trial for murder and theft. They all testify and Bochkova especially drives me crazy trying to pin everything on Maslova. No one is fooled.

Alright, so this idiot they poisoned was named Smelkov. And so he had Maslova that night and was very rough with her, giving her a ring because she threatened to leave. So then the poisoning right? Simon and Bochkova gave Maslova a powder to put into Smelkov’s drink, Maslova thinking that it’s just a sleeping draught. Then Maslova goes to withdraw some money Smelkov asked her to get and that stupid Kartinkin and Bochkova steal a crap ton of rubles.

Maslova cried during her testimony and told her story, insisting that she just followed orders, completely ignorant of the powder’s deadly properties. Thank goodness the president seems to be on her side.

But get this:

Nekhlyudov has recognized little Maslova by now and can hardly stop himself from sobbing along with her on trial. He knows her as Katusha though.

” . . . this was certainly the same Katusha who, on that Easter night, had so innocently looked up to him whom she loved, her fond, laughing eyes full joy and of life.”

p. 78

from my own camera

This is just perfect. As Nekhlyudov’s guilt grows, so does his potential for character development and moral recalibration and growth. You can tell there’s a lot here. He could really be someone great and this girl is gonna make it happen. Looking forward to learning about “that Easter night” as well. Ugh so excited. 🙂